(This is a multi-part series. Click here to start at the beginning.)
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Chapter Two
HOW TO GET STARTED: DOMAINS AND HOSTING
There’s a lot to do when you start a blog, but let’s cut it down to the three essentials. You need…
- A domain name (like https://boldanddeterminedarchive.com)
- A hosting plan (like you can get at http://boldanddetermined.net)
- A content management system (like WordPress)
With those three things in place you will have everything you need to start writing, showing off your art, and making some dough.
SETUP PART 1: How To Pick a Killer Domain
If you pay attention to popular names you will notice that the best names stick in your head like glue.
The best names always seem to perfectly match with their brand, product or website.
Even without knowing what it is, a name like Bold & Determined sticks in your head like duct tape to a pipe fitting.
It’s a perfect match to the product, it’s easy to share, and it injects a little curiosity when you hear it.
What’s in a great name?
5 simple things:
- The Fewest Words Possible
- Unambiguous Spelling
- Easy to Repeat
- Powerful & Shareable
- A Curious Twist
Exercise: See how all these qualities are in Bold & Determined.
Names are VERY important. If you can’t get a great name, there’s almost no point in getting a domain at all.
If you want to start a website or business, grabbing the perfect name can be difficult, especially if you’ve tried to search for a dot com that matches the great name you have envisioned.
I will share with you a little tool I found that can help you pick a great name, even if you barely have any ideas.
Not only will it help you come up with great names that roll off the tongue and are sure to make an impact, you’ll also know instantly if the name is available as a domain name you can buy.
This is better that any other “name generator” I’ve found, and has helped me snag some great domain names for secret projects.
The tool is called Impossibility, and it’s about as easy as it gets. 
Here’s how it works…
Example: Let’s say you want to start a blog about doing easy financial management, but aren’t sure how to pick a kick-ass name that will get shared and talked about.
Step One: Type in Your Idea (in this example the idea is “Finance”)
You need a seed word to start generating domain name ideas. In this case I’ve used “finance”.
Hit that big red “Search” button, and the tool will go to work finding great domain names for you.
Step Two: Play With The Options
Next, you may want to change some of the options. In the first menu, I like to choose, “anything” to get the most variety of ideas.
You can complete a few searches using various options until you find a domain you like.
And that’s it.
OWN YOUR OWN NAME ON THE INTERNET
You should always own your own name on the internet. Even if you don’t do anything with it, you need to own your reputation.
Do you want to know the real way I make money online?
It’s not because I’m a great writer or because I’m a whole lot smarter than other guys.
It’s because of my reputation. I’ve built my reputation from years of excellent work.
And how do I protect that reputation? I own my name.
If you take a look at victorpride.com, you can see that I own the conversation about me. If people search for me in Google, they’ll find websites that I own, not some websites authored by, let’s say, jealous types.
Imagine what could have happened if I didn’t own my name…
Imagine that some loser takes offense to something I’ve written (like the feminists did to my “Shy Girls” article”). They snatch up the domain name http://victorpride.com, and all of a sudden the conversation about me is in someone else’s hands. Uh oh.
Then when people search for Victor Pride, they don’t see me, they see what some lesser person writes under my own name. Not good.
I know, you can’t see this happening. That’s too fantastic a scenario. What if you don’t want to be a public figure?
How about this. When your employer Googles you to see if you’re a respectable character, what are they going to find? When business contacts look up your name, how do you present yourself?
Facebook photos of you passed out with Sharpie all over your face?
Or a professionally designed website that presents you in the best light?
You need to own your name online and protect it.
Luckily, it is both cheap, and incredibly easy. Let BADNET take care of it and it will require no work on your part.
Owning your name online is one of the best ways to doof-proof yourself from haters, both online and off.
You don’t even have to develop this site, you just need to own it. In fact, I owned http://victorpride.com for almost 3 years before I ever did anything with it.
People would type it in their address bar to learn a little bit more about me, but there was nothing there. And that’s still a good thing, because it meant no one could “squat” on my valuable reputation and throw trash at me.
Now you’re probably not a public figure, but you still need to protect your name.
Here’s what I would do…
I’d pick up my FirstnameLastname.com domain for FREE by getting website hosting through BADNET. For a little under 4 bucks a month you’re protected from haters and bad guys.
Then I’d throw up a blank HTML page simply saying the website was not available.
Of course there’s a million other things you could do with Yourname.com.
- You could offer consulting services and cut out your boss.
- You could start a blog and start building a reputation.
- You could throw up your vacation photos and let your family or friends see them somewhere that isn’t Fakebook.
Or you could just have a simple contact form for potential clients, friends, or people you meet at conferences to get in touch with you.
Either way, you need to own your name.
What if Myname.com isn’t available?
It’s likely that you won’t get Yourname.com. Maybe some evil scammer is just sitting on the name, waiting for you to pony up $$$$. What you can do in this case is try out variations of your name.
For instance, if your name was James Goldthwait, and JamesGoldthwait.com was taken, you could check…
JGoldthwait.com
JimGoldthwait.com
JamesGold.com
JamesG.com
Or any other combination of names that is available for purchase.
Buy your own name, and you’ll have your own property on the internet that you can protect, develop, and show to the world.
Don’t go for a .org, .net, or anything other than .com if you can avoid it. Google loves dot com and doesn’t love anything else, and neither does anyone else. Everyone remembers dot com, no one remembers dot biz.
SETUP PART 2: How To Get Your Site Live (Hosting)
Every website needs a webhost, which is basically just a computer somewhere that your blog “lives on”.
There’s a wide range of hosting packages, some more trustworthy than others.
If you search around for “cheap hosting”, you can expect to get what you pay for.
A slow website…extensive downtime…and support staff that’s hard to find if you ever need some help.
(Which you probably will.)
Luckily, good webhosting is not expensive.
It normally runs about $4/month.
CAUTION: Don’t make the mistake of getting “free” hosting with a .blogspot.com or .wordpress.com address.
Using these greatly limits what you can do with your blog.
Since you don’t own it, you can be shutdown for any old thing at any time. You can be shutdown for such treasonous acts as…
- Making money
- Speaking your mind
Just don’t use free websites.
SETUP PART 3: How To Make It Incredibly Easy To Blog (WordPress)
If you’ve got your hosting purchased you’ll be dropped into a file browser and told, “knock yourself out!”
Not such a great idea.
Sure, you can hand-code all your own web pages and muck around with your server…but why would you?
Let’s make it easy so you can get to the actual work of blogging.
Install WordPress from http://wordpress.org (notice the .ORG) and you’ll have the world’s most popular free blogging software on your side.
It’s what B&D uses, as well as most of my other online projects.
BADNET SETUP
If all of that seems like a lot of work, that’s because it is, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the tech side of things.
When I first started, I had to invite a friend over to install WordPress for me, as well as spend several hours on the line with tech support as I set things up. I had no idea about the essential technical things necessary to starting a blog that makes money.
Luckily, I have a special offer that can help you out. Go to http://boldanddetermined.net and sign up for web hosting through our link.
Not only will we set up the blog for you within 24 hours, (at no additional cost to you), we’ll install WordPress and 7 essential plugins to get you started as fast as possible.
Your site will be fast, secure, and Google-friendly with no work on your part. Plus, you’ll own your own name. Not a bad deal.
